The present invention relates to an information providing system and more particularly, to an information providing system capable of reducing the number of times an in-vehicle apparatus receiving a broadcast receives information related to a broadcast channel which can be received in a traveling area of a vehicle from an information providing apparatus and the amount of information received from the information providing apparatus by the in-vehicle apparatus.
An information providing system has been proposed in which a predetermined server provides information related to a broadcast channel that can be received at a position where a broadcast receiving apparatus is disposed.
For example, JP-A-2005-252965 discloses an information providing system in which, when a center providing information receives information indicating an installation position from a broadcast receiving apparatus, the center returns information related to a broadcast channel that can be received at the installation position of the broadcast receiving apparatus.
According to the information providing system, for example, a newly installed broadcast receiving apparatus does not need to independently search for a receivable broadcast channel, but can easily set the broadcast channel that can be received at the installation position on the basis of information received from the center.
However, in the information providing system disclosed in JP-A-2005-252965, when the broadcast receiving apparatus is an in-vehicle apparatus, there is a concern that the number of times the in-vehicle apparatus receives information from the center or the amount of information received from the center will increase.
That is, the position where the in-vehicle apparatus receives a broadcast is frequently changed with the traveling of the vehicle. Therefore, whenever a broadcast is not received due to a change in the receiving position, the in-vehicle apparatus needs to receive the information of the broadcast channel that can be received at the changed receiving position from the center.
For example, when the vehicle repeatedly travels along a route from a position where a broadcast can be received to a position where a broadcast cannot be received and from the position where a broadcast cannot be received to the original position, the in-vehicle apparatus needs to receive the information of a broadcast channel that can be received at each position from the center whenever the vehicle travels.
In this way, in the information providing system according to the related art, there is a problem that the number of times the in-vehicle apparatus receives the information of the broadcast channel that can be received at each receiving position from the center increases.
When the center transmits, for example, the information of the whole country of Japan as the information related to the broadcast channel that can be received at each receiving position to the in-vehicle apparatus, it is possible to reduce the number of times the in-vehicle apparatus receives information from the center.
However, when the center transmits the information about the whole country of Japan related to the broadcast channel that can be received at each receiving position to the in-vehicle apparatus, there is a new problem that the amount of information received by the in-vehicle apparatus from the center increases.